The AFP is reporting that the Taliban “lured” the Army and SEALs to a site where they blew a helicopter out of the sky on August 7th. I will not make any comments until we know what is true and what isn’t, other than to ask, if it is true, didn’t we learn anything when a trusted Afghan “informer” turned out to be a double agent (or a devoted Islamist), entered a tent and blew himself up taking eight of our CIA agents with him.

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Robert Dominguez helps Afghan children push a wheelbarrow up a slope while conducting a security patrol in Sangin, Afghanistan, July 22, 2011. Dominguez is a team leader assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 8. U.S. Marines conduct patrols to suppress enemy activity and gain the trust of the local populace. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Kowshon Ye

A senior Afghan government official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Taliban commander Qari Tahir lured US forces to the scene by tipping them off that a Taliban meeting was taking place.

He also said four Pakistanis helped Tahir carry out the strike.
“Now it’s confirmed that the helicopter was shot down and it was a trap that was set by a Taliban commander,” said the official, citing intelligence gathered from the area.

“The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take,” he continued.

“That’s the only route, so they took position on the either side of the valley on mountains and as the helicopter approached, they attacked it with rockets and other modern weapons. It was brought down by multiple shots.”

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss the issue, also said President Hamid Karzai’s US-backed government “thinks” the attack was retaliation for the May killing of Osama bin Laden. Source: Yahoo News

Take a good look at the photo above…a U.S. Marine helping Afghan children. There is no more decent people among us than our Military.

I discount the darker Alex Jones conspiracies (he doesn’t know what he’s talking about when it comes to Afghanistan and military operations), but this is very plausible.

The Afghans have done this to each other for years, using our military to settle scores with enemy tribes. We rely on Afghans for intelligence, so it is easy for them to insert false information into the loop, including something like this, where they get someone to “reveal” a meeting of biggies including Mullah Omar. Instead of a big meeting, it’s a trap.

This is not the first time a Navy Seals have been killed in a Chinook in Afghanistan, and it’s happened often to non-SF troops, so this is not unprecedented.

Some Army Rangers were in trouble, so these Seals hopped the first ride they could get. They don’t always travel in stealth helicopters. Also, their missions are secret and people who report on them often do a bad job, fueling conspiracy theories.

It all adds up. In war, Sh*t happens.

Now, if you hear people from the Special Forces community saying something is fishy, take note. Until then, I’m discounting the speculation.

Silver, it’s odd that in the report I linked, there was no mention of rescuing Army soldiers, just the forces rushing to a meeting of high Taliban members. The report of the rescue is still out there, but I’m not seeing the two linked.

Details of military operations are classified, fueling speculation and conspiracies.

That many SF jumping into a Chinook is consistent with some kind of unplanned rapid response.

The trap part of this story is completely plausible, the rest of the conspiracy stuff is not.

Like I said, until I hear people in the SF community saying they smell a rat, I wouldn’t waste my time. They take care of their own, and if this were some kind of inside job as the wilder speculation suggests, there is no way they would just sit down and take it.

I find the whole thing odd, Why is this whole thing out there in the first place? Why reveal the whole plan? Why are these families on T.V.? It is unsafe for them. Same thing with killing Osama… oh, that is right. There is going to be a movie right before the election.

Silver, thanks for the link. The “real issue” is exactly why everyone is so dubious. Leon Panetta as Sec of Defense??? Everything he outlines is exactly why people are questioning under this particular president.